State OK’s Oak Ridge Mall TIF

Ray Evans, city consultant on Crosland Southeast’s “revisioning” of the mostly dormant Oak Ridge Mall, told Industrial Development Board members Monday that default approval of the mall property’s Tax Increment Financing plan had been received.

Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Ray Evans, city consultant on Crosland Southeast’s “revisioning” of the mostly dormant Oak Ridge Mall, told Industrial Development Board members Monday that default approval of the mall property’s Tax Increment Financing plan had been received.

The TIF plan was submitted to the state for approval around Dec. 19, 2013, according to Evans, who added that state offices had 30 days from receipt of the plan to approve it. Since those state offices haven’t responded other than in emails, the plan is automatically approved, local officials say.

“All the emails we have received have been positive and supportive,” Evans noted in a post-IDB meeting interview with The Oak Ridger.

Evans also told the IDB that Crosland Southeast — the Charlotte-based development firm that signed a contract last February to purchase the mall property — is making good progress with retailers and lining up renters.

Several board members asked for the names of retailers, but Evans wouldn’t divulge that information at this time. He did confirm Sears, who formerly had been an anchor store in the old Oak Ridge Mall, wasn’t one of those retailers.

Though he didn’t want to give too much away too soon, Evans did say that “Crosland is hoping to move from Letters of Intent to lease agreements soon.”

Crosland is also using local talent to help with branding and marketing. Evans said the company has engaged two Oak Ridge High School classes to help with that aspect.

Evans said he knew that one class was a graphics class, but couldn’t recall specifics of the second class.

When pressed by IDB members for a “time frame,” Evans admitted that the TIF was a major hurdle to the project and — now that it has been approved — conversations should become more serious. Another positive conversation implied Crosland could also be waiting on a major shopping center convention in Las Vegas, Nev., in May to begin a stronger push with retailers.

The TIF is a plan in which retailers are given a specified period of time in which they do not pay property taxes and only pay sales tax. It is used by communities to encourage retail development.

The TIF has been described as a method “to use future gains in taxes to subsidize current improvements”, which are projected to create the conditions for said gains. The completion of a public or private project often results in an increase in the value of surrounding real estate, “which generates additional tax revenue.”

“Following the model of the recent Aubrey’s/Panera site on South Illinois Avenue, this TIF will not put any public dollars at risk with generating funds for improvements to the site,” a September release reasserted.

The TIF related to the Oak Ridge Mall property passed its first hurdle in December, when Oak Ridge City Council approved the plan.